Paul Stirling to play in Caribbean Premier League

Paul Stirling will play in this summer's edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), The Irish Times understands.

The Belfast batter will be the first Irish international to play in the competition since Kevin O’Brien was part of the Trinbago Red Steel squad in both 2013 and 2014.

The CPL will be Stirling’s latest stop on the global franchise T20 circuit after recently impressing for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League. Ireland’s vice-captain scored 200 runs in six innings at an average of 33 and a strike rate of 177.

The tournament in the Caribbean gets underway at the end of August and runs until the end of September. Ireland’s home series against Afghanistan finishes on August 17th, meaning there is no clash with the CPL.

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The news comes as a boost for Irish cricket after no Ireland players were picked up in Monday’s draft for The Hundred, the main franchise competition in England. This does clash with Ireland’s Afghanistan series and it is understood that teams were unwilling to draft Irish players that would be unavailable for nearly half of the tournament.

Stirling and fast bowler Josh Little were the Irish players who garnered the most interest from The Hundred franchises. Curtis Campher, Mark Adair, Simi Singh, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany and Harry Tector had all also put their names forward.